Gustaf Retzius

Magnus Gustaf Retzius ( born October 17, 1842 in Stockholm, † July 21, 1919 ) was a Swedish histologist.

Life

He came from a famous Swedish doctors family - his father was the anatomist Anders Retzius, his grandfather of the naturalist and chemist Anders Jahan Retzius - and therefore also studied, following the family tradition in Uppsala, Stockholm and Lund medicine.

Retzius in 1871 received his doctorate. In 1877 he became an associate professor for histology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. As he worked alongside his scientific interests with social and humanitarian issues, and he was married to the feminist Anna Hierta, daughter of founding publisher Lars Johan Hierta, he took over in addition to his university duties from 1884 to 1887 the publication of the great Stockholm daily Aftonbladet.

In 1889 he became Professor of Anatomy at the Karolinska Institute. In 1890 he gave this professorship again to henceforth entirely to give his scientific research, he could easily do, thanks to the assets of his wife.

His scientific achievements were mainly in the fields of histology of the nervous system and the ear labyrinth. In addition, he conducted research in the field of comparative anatomy and anthropology. In total, he has published over 500 scientific papers.

Retzius was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences since 1870. In 1901 he was inducted into the Svenska academies and elected an honorary member of the Kungliga och Vitterhets History Antikvitets academies. For his scientific achievements, he was taken on January 24, 1911 in the Prussian Order Pour le Mérite for Arts and Science as a foreign member.